(Reuters) – England manager Gareth Southgate’s overly cautious approach and his team’s hesitance in front of goal resulted in a nervy 2-1 World Cup win over Tunisia yesterday rather than the comfortable victory their early dominance deserved.
Having gone in 1-1 at halftime in their opening Group G game, England came up against opponents clearly playing for a draw, defending deep in numbers and barely threatening a counter-attack.
England offered far too little in return until Harry Kane got them out of jail as Southgate’s men failed to produce the invention, the element of surprise and the changes from the bench needed to alter the course of the game.
For all the positive play in the opening 20 minutes, during which they took the lead through Kane, they wasted a series of chances and then lacked the ability to open up a massed defence.
